Stamp Act opponents framed grievances as restoring English rights, not separating

Evidence

Following Otis’s lead, in 1765 two other British-American pamphleteers, Governor Stephen Hopkins of Rhode Island and Mayor Daniel Dulany of Annapolis, Maryland, expressed their opposition to the Stamp Act in terms of restoring rights rather than asserting independence. As the English settlers of the American colonies enjoyed “all the rights and privileges of freeborn Englishmen,” Hopkins maintained, they and their descendants remain “justly and naturally entitled to all the rights and advantages of the British constitution,” including the right to representation in taxation. — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 34

Categorization

• XREF: Supports the course theme of continuity between British constitutional inheritance and later American legal claims. — connects to: Early patriot pamphleteers aimed at rights restoration, not separation
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Early patriot pamphleteers aimed at rights restoration, not separation

Broader Connections

• Early patriot pamphleteers aimed at rights restoration, not separation #corroborates (1.00)